The Ensignette was designed by the Swedish Engineer Magnus
Neill. Niell had already produced several highly successful
designs such as the "Cyko" and a pocket watch camera
called the 'Ticka', manufactured in Britain by Houghtons Ltd. His
design was also manufactured in America by the "Expo"
Camera Co. of New York who sold it as the "Expo" camera
and in Japan by Ueda shashinki Ten who called it the "Moment".

He patented the design in 1907, which is why the camera has
this on the front. However the camera was not introduced then. It
was at the end of 1909, presumably in an effort to catch
Christmas trade, that the "Ensignette" camera and E1
roll film were introduced. The 'Ensignette' measured only 3 7/8 x
1 7/8 x ¾ inch when folded. Taking negatives of 2 ¼ x 1 ½
inches. This was the first all metal mass produced British camera,
it also used an entirely new film size so Houghtons (Who
manufactured it) were taking a risk with its introduction,
however, they were confident in the new design and its appearance
in the shops was accompanied by a blaze of publicity in both the
National Press and Photographic Journals.

The first models were made of black enamelled brass with
nickel plated phosphor bronze fittings. There were two models
initially, the No.1 with an f/11 Achromatic Meniscus lens for 30/-
and a No.1x with an "Ensign" Anastigmat lens f/5.6 for
70/-. Soon after these were joined by two further models, the No.1b
with a Cooke Anastigmat f/5.6 for £4-10-0 and a No.1g with a
Goerz Syntor f/6.8 for £5-10-0, none of the initial models had
any provision for focusing.

Early in 1912, encouraged by the instant success of the
Ensignette - the sales of which Amateur Photographer quoted to be
'tens of thousands' - and the growing popularity of small
pocketable cameras Houghtons introduced a new version. The new
model was called the No.2 Ensignette, it took six pictures of 3x2
inches on a new size roll film 2E. It was intended for those
photographers who preferred larger negatives and cost 50
shillings. A roll of 2E film cost 1 shilling. It was slightly
larger than the No. 1 Ensignette measuring 5 x 2 3/8 x 7/8 inches
when closed.

The success of the Ensignette meant that Houghtons entered
into trade agreements with several retailers world-wide. In
America G. Gennert who had shops in New York, Chicago, Los
Angeles and San Francisco stocked the camera. In Australia,
Houghtons agents Harringtons sold the camera. Houghton-Butcher (Eastern)
Ltd. was later set up by the company and sold Ensign cameras in
India out of the branch office in Calcutta. I have even managed
to find an Ensign catalogue from a dealer in Phoona with prices
in Rupees to add to my collection. In Japan Asanuma & Co sold
a complete range of Ensign cameras including the Ensignette and
produced some beautiful catalogues. The Ensignette became so
popular that in 1913 Kodak took the unprecedented move of
producing film for the Ensignette, the only time they
manufactured a film specifically for use in another makers camera,
Kodak film 128 fitted the No.1 and 129 fitted the No.2. Looking
back it is clear to see the impact the Ensignette made on the
popular camera market at the time. Kodak themselves never made a
camera that used these film sizes so the market must have been
very large indeed for them to take this step.

In 1920, under the direction of the new works manager A.J.
Dennis, who later designed the Cupid camera, the Houghton-Butcher
Manufacturing Co. applied for patents on a substantially altered
Ensignette, now made of aluminium. The Ensignette was given a new
speeded shutter providing 20,40,60,T,B and the wheel stop
aperture selector of the earlier cameras was replaced by a
variable diaphragm-type iris which was adjusted by a lever under
the lens. The front panel lost the Red Ensign trade mark and was
no longer flat but had raised cheeks either side of a redesigned
lens mount. Spool holders were provided with the camera for the
roll of film making the spring clips that had been needed in
previous models unnecessary when using the new camera. This model
became known as the Aluminium Ensignette.

In 1927 the Ensignette disappeared altogether from catalogues
of the still newly joined Houghton-Butcher combine ending a
seventeen year run. Its demise being due to a combination of many
factors, however the main reason must certainly have been that
they had lost the battle with Kodak over film format. Houghton-Butcher
conceding this by discontinuing the Ensignette in favour of their
127 roll film based Vest Pocket Ensign. (Basically an Ensignette
that used 127 film)

There were over 57 variations of the Ensignette listed and
many more that were not listed. Handbag cameras, Silver plated
models and Guilt models. All of which are very rare today. There
were also several copies. 'La Filotechnica-Salmoiraghi' of Milan,
produced a version under license and the Ueda Shashinki Ten
produced a copy of the number one Ensignette called the 'Starette'.
This camera can be distinguished from a Houghtons Ensignette by
the two stars engraved on either side of the lens panel, the star
being the trade mark of Ueda. Apart from this it is almost an
exact copy of the original number 1 Ensignette.

It is safe to say that the Ensignette was the camera that laid
the foundations of Houghton's success in the early part of this
century. The Ensignette was a milestone in popular photography,
providing for the first time a practical, truly compact camera at
an affordable price to the average man. It was immensely popular,
its appearance being timed perfectly to fill the need for a
compact pocketable camera. It helped create a new type of
photographer the 'Pocket Snap Shooter' and did more than any
other to show both the public and the photographic manufacturers
the possibilities of Vest Pocket cameras.

Ensignette
Films

Film
Size

Manufacturer

Code

No.1. (1 ½ x 2 ¼ inches) 4 x
6cm

Austin Edwards (Ensign)

E1

Austin Edwards (post1926)

E28

Barnet

28

Kodak

128

Selo

28

Film
Size

Manufacturer

Code

No.2. (3 x 2 inches) 5 x 7.5cm

Austin Edwards (Ensign)

E2

Austin Edwards (post1926)

E29

Agfa

N6

Barnet

29

Bayer

22

Ensign (Ultrachrome)

EC29

Ferrania

129

Gevaert

129

Goerz Toxo

12

Ilford

129

Kodak

129

Pathe & Hauff

N6

Perutz

72

Selo

29

Voigtlander

N6

Zeiss Ikon

N6

If You have any
Houghton-Butcher/Ensign cameras in your collection could you take
a moment to let me have some information about them? Just visit
my ONline serial number data page.